The Verge

The Eve Play is AirPlay 2-ready. | Image: Eve Eve announced it's releasing a $149.95 AirPlay 2 receiver called the Eve Play - its first audio device - on November 14th. Though a little pricey, the receiver looks aimed at audiophiles: it's got optical, coaxial, and RCA audio outputs, 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, a built-in DAC, and an ethernet port.Eve says you can adjust latency between speakers automatically or manually using the Eve app's Audio Sync feature if you're finding multiroom audio isn't perfectly synchronized. Users will need an iPhone or iPad to use it, as well as a home network to connect it to either via Wi-Fi or ethernet. Image: Eve The Eve Play has a great set of outputs for a variety of setups, but no inputs. Wireless receivers like this with... Continue reading...

The JBL Authentics 200, the smallest of the three speakers. After JBL announced its new lineup of Authentics speakers at IFA 2023, we put the two built-in voice assistants that promise simultaneous usage to the test. Continue reading...

Anker MagGo Power Bank (10,000mAh, 15W) | Image: Anker Anker's newest batch of mobile power accessories includes new Qi2-equipped MagGo magnetic chargers, stations, and power banks, as well as new Nano USB-C chargers ready for any future iPhone 15 owners who might be tearing out old Lightning-equipped setups to go with their new phones and AirPods. Rumors suggest Qi2 support will be enabled with the launch of the iPhone 15 lineup, possibly enabling 15W charge speeds without Apple's MagSafe certification.However, Apple hasn't confirmed its plans on that front just yet, and we'll find out soon if other manufacturers will update their devices for Qi2 or support the spec on new phones launching later this year, like the Pixel 8 series.Supporting the next version of the Qi wireless charging... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Microsoft will start unbundling Teams from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 productivity suites in EU markets in October. The move is designed to avoid further antitrust scrutiny, after the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Microsoft's bundling of its Teams software with the Office productivity suite last month.Today we are announcing proactive changes that we hope will start to address these concerns in a meaningful way, even while the European Commission's investigation continues and we cooperate with it," says Nanna-Louise Linde, VP of Microsoft european government affairs. These changes will impact our Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites for business customers in the European Economic Area and... Continue reading...

Philips Hue's new wired indoor/outdoor security camera comes in black or white and can work as a motion sensor for Hue's smart lighting and its new Hue Secure security system. Philips Hue is moving into the smart home security space with the launch of Philips Hue Secure, a DIY security system that leverages new cameras and new sensors that work alongside Philips Hue's smart lighting system to scare off potential burglars. When the system is triggered by a sensor, you can activate any compatible Hue lights to flash red or white and/or sound an alarm through the camera.Philips Hue Secure is launching this fall with a wired indoor/outdoor camera ($199.99), a battery-powered indoor/outdoor camera ($249.99), a full-color floodlight camera ($349.99), and new contact sensors ($39.99) to secure windows and doors.The Verge got an in-person preview of the new devices at IFA 2023 in Berlin this week. I was impressed... Continue reading...

The outer ring can create a gradient - or serve as a notification light. | Image: Aqara Aqara is adding a bunch of new products to its smart home lineup today, one of which includes a Matter-enabled ceiling light with a pretty unique perk. With a diameter of 50cm (~19.7 inches), Aqara's Ceiling Light T1M features a range of 16 million different colors, along with an independently addressable RGB ring on the outside.While you can use the ring to create a gradient lighting effect, Aqara notes that it can also serve as a status indicator when linked to other smart home products. That means you can program the outer light to show a specific color when one of your other smart devices detects an issue, such as a leak or an open door.Like some of the other Zigbee-supported products offered by Aqara, the company says the ceiling... Continue reading...

Photo by John MacDougall / AFP via Getty Images From the smart home to foldables, here's everything being announced in Berlin. Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge In October 2021, Google launched a new Pixel Pass subscription program alongside the Pixel 6 series of phones that promised three things for one monthly payment ($45 for a Pixel 6 or $55 for a 6 Pro): Google's best mobile services, device protection, and regular device upgrades."However, on Tuesday, Google emailed Pixel Pass customers to say: We are writing to you to inform you that starting today, we are no longer offering new Pixel Pass subscriptions or renewals."They're not losing out on special paid-for privileges (the fee covered the cost of the phone and a discounted rate for the bundled services over its two-year timeframe). Still, disappointed customers in the Google Pixel subreddit mention things like losing a... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Microsoft is working on a feature that will allow Xbox owners to automatically upload their screenshots and clips to OneDrive. Xbox Insiders in the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead rings can now test this new feature, which also allows you to upload your existing clip and screenshot collection to OneDrive.A new wizard will help Xbox owners walk through the process of syncing clips to OneDrive, including the option to upload existing ones. You don't have to upload your entire existing collection, and you can choose the ones you want individually. Microsoft does warn that if you have a lot of clips, then the upload process could take a couple of days as it runs in the background.Switching on automatic uploads for future clips and screenshots... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Apple employees will soon stop providing assistance to customers via X - formerly Twitter - as well as YouTube and the Apple Support Community online forum, MacRumors reports, citing anonymous sources.Apple reportedly plans on getting rid of its social media support advisor roles, including the paid community specialist role for the Apple Support Community, later this year. Over 150 employees will be affected, though MacRumors reports that Apple will offer these workers an opportunity to switch to a phone-based support role.The changes are supposed to begin going into effect on October 1st. Starting then, users on X will receive automated messages directing them elsewhere for help. Apple will also stop offering assistance to... Continue reading...

Starz often picks up canceled shows like HBO Max's Minx. | Image: HBO Max Starz has lowered its annual subscription price from $74.99 a year to $69.99, Cord Cutters first reported and TechCrunch later confirmed. Starz emailed its subscribers the news on August 29th, explaining existing members will see the change in price on their next bill.It's not clear why Starz, which is home to TV shows like Outlander, The Serpent Queen, and Minx, made the move, but it's a welcome one. Alison Hoffman, president of domestic networks at Starz, only told TechCrunch via email that as one of the few streaming networks that is profitable, we are always looking for ways to drive success for the business while providing great value to our customers."Our annual plan subscribers are some of our most valuable customers, so we... Continue reading...

Image: Google Google has rolled out a new SafeSearch feature that automatically blurs explicit (meaning violent, sexual, etc.) images in its results. This will occur for all users by default - including those who don't have SafeSearch enabled. This setting was first announced back in February but was scheduled to roll out globally this month.The announcement is part of a larger Google Search initiative to, as the company puts it, help you stay in control of your personal information, privacy, and online safety." The company also recently announced updates to its results about you" dashboard, which make it easier to request the removal of your own personal information or explicit imagery from search results. It's also making it easier for families... Continue reading...

Lithium Americas Corp. is in the process of building a lithium mine in the remote Thacker Pass area of northern Nevada that has drawn impassioned protest from nearby tribes, ranchers, and environmentalists. | Image: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The company constructing a controversial new lithium mine to supply GM's electric vehicles knows where it wants to drill next based on new research it published today.Lithium Americas broke ground on its mine at Thacker Pass in Nevada after facing fierce opposition from Native American tribes, environmental advocates, and local ranchers. But that mine is just one slice of the McDermitt Caldera, the remnants of a supervolcano that's now believed to hold one of the biggest lithium deposits in the world.There's lithium spread across the caldera's 600 square miles - split between Nevada and Oregon. Thacker Pass is near the southern rim, where especially high-grade materials have been found. What Lithium Americas is after is a clay mineral... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge New York's OMNY subway pass system is supposed to make the lives of its riders easier, but as a 404 Media investigation highlights, it makes tracking your movement a little bit too easy - posing dangers for anyone at risk of stalking or harassment.If you tap a bank card to ride the subway, a trip history" feature on the OMNY website will reveal your past seven days' worth of trips - including the time and station of entry - to anyone with access to your card number and expiration date. Since it's not unusual for card numbers to be compromised either online or through someone (like a housemate or partner) briefly getting access to a wallet, that creates an easy-to-miss security hole for people facing things like intimate partner... Continue reading...

Image: Activision First-person shooters like Call of Duty are somewhat infamous for the toxicity of their lobbies and voice chats. Surveys have dubbed the franchise's fan base the most negative in all of gaming; a feud between two players once resulted in the summoning of a SWAT team. Activision has been trying to crack down on this behavior for years, and part of the solution might involve artificial intelligence.Activision has partnered with a company called Modulate to bring in-game voice chat moderation" to their titles. The new moderation system, using an AI technology called ToxMod, will work to identify behaviors like hate speech, discrimination, and harassment in real time.ToxMod's initial beta rollout in North America begins today. It's active... Continue reading...

Leaked by Google. | Image: Google They just... put it in the alt text. Continue reading...

The Huawei Mate 60 Pro supposedly comes with a 5G chip. | Image: Huawei Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro on Wednesday with little fanfare and some missing details - namely, the kind of chip it uses. Any mention of a chip is notably absent from the $960 phone's product pages despite mentioning better communication experience" and a more stable network connection."That information has only surfaced in unboxing videos and reviews posted online, including this one from the tech outlet Gizmochina, which says that the device comes with the Kirin 9000s to support 5G and satellite calls. This seems to be the latest version of the Kirin chipset that we last saw with the Mate 40 series devices in 2020. However, Gizmochina notes that there is very little information that can be confirmed" about whether the company... Continue reading...

Autopay with a debit card or be prepared to pay up. | Illustration: The Verge You gotta hand it to carriers: if there's a way to squeeze an extra few dollars out of their customers, they will find it. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, the latest maneuver is requiring customers - current and new - to switch to a debit card or bank account withdrawal in order to receive the autopay discount on their plan. Verizon has included this requirement on plans for years, but in the past few months, AT&T and T-Mobile have quietly followed suit to cut back on how much they pay for credit card processing.The new rule goes into effect for AT&T customers on October 2nd, and as a gesture of goodwill, the company will only reduce your discount if you continue to pay with a credit card. Those who register for autopay with a... Continue reading...

The AirPods Max on one of Head Acoustics' dummy head microphones. | Image: Head Acoustics Active noise cancellation, or ANC, has come a long way since Bose launched the first consumer noise-canceling headphones - the QC1 - back in the year 2000. With ANC now firmly mainstream and available in headphones, from the ultra-budget to the high end, it's hard to know which ones make the most sense for your noise-canceling situation without going out and hearing them all.So that's what we did. The Verge hit the streets of New York City with a bunch of noise-canceling headphones, from the original Bose QC1 to the Apple AirPods Max, the Bose Noise Cancelling 700, the Bose QuietComfort 45, and the Sony WH-1000XM5 - not to mention a pair of $1,300 aviation headphones - to see how they compare and to see how far ANC has come in the past... Continue reading...

A July picture of a car dealership in Chicago, Illinois. | Photo by Scott Olson / Getty Images Americans are now paying an average of $12,182 to own and operate a brand-new vehicle, or $1,015 per month, according to AAA.That's a big jump over 2022, when the average cost of owning a car was $10,728. The increase, AAA says, comes down to higher prices for new cars, increased depreciation after they're purchased, and falling used car values - as well as the auto industry's shift toward big, feature-laden vehicles at the expense of more utilitarian cars.When The Verge's Thomas Ricker covered a similar AAA report in his First Click newsletter discussing car sharing as an alternative in 2015, Americans spent just $8,698 annually for new cars.In 2015, Americans spent just $8,698 annually for new carsHalf-ton pickup trucks are the... Continue reading...

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation Plus subscription next month. The service's annual Essential plan will go from $60 to $80, the Extra plan from $100 to $135, and the Premium plan from $120 to $160. The new pricing goes into effect starting September 6th.If you're currently subscribed to PlayStation Plus, Sony says the price increase won't take effect until your next renewal date or after November 6th. However, if you make any changes to your subscription, such as upgrades, downgrades or buying additional time," you'll have to pay the new rate.Sony says the price hikes will go into effect globally and will allow the company to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits" to the service. It adds that the... Continue reading...

Image: Rivian Rivian revealed the range for its new dual-motor R1T, and it surely does not disappoint.The Dual-Motor and Performance Dual-Motor R1T will have the best range in our lineup," Rivian said in a tweet, with an EPA estimated 410 miles when coupled with the company's Max battery pack and 352 miles with the large pack. That's all predicated on 21-inch wheels, which surely help propel the R1T to its full range. Range figures for the R1S SUV are still forthcoming, the company added.Rivian opened up reservations for the Dual-Motor and Performance Dual-Motor R1T back in April. Recently, the company invited a bunch of reporters out to its Normal, Illinois, factory for a test drive (which I sadly was unable to join) as well as to experience its... Continue reading...

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Hallmark is partnering with payments platform Venmo to let people send money with physical greeting cards securely.Hallmark launched Hallmark Plus Venmo Cards as a way for relatives to send each other birthday money, for example, among other reasons.Anyone who wants to send money can choose a card from the company's Hallmark Plus Venmo line to celebrate the occasion, scan a QR code, and set the amount they want to give. Once the recipient gets the card, they must scan the code to access the money in their Venmo account.The company said this method eliminates the need to send unsecured gift cards, checks, or cash because, as Newsweek reported in 2022, those tend to get stolen.While Venmo said 78 percent of its users send money as... Continue reading...

Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge Instagram looks like it's working on a longer version of Instagram Reels, allowing users to record up to 10 minutes of videos. Leaker Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of two side-by-side Reels pages, one to record for three minutes - the current standard for shortform videos - and another for 10 minutes.

Image: CFOTO / Future Publishing via Getty Images The road to a world with only electric vehicles doesn't run through the US. It runs through China. In China, nearly 30 percent of all car sales are EVs. In the US, it's just 7 percent. How did China so thoroughly smoke the US when it comes to EVs?It had help from a certain American company called Tesla.In the sixth and last episode of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, we explore how China took the lead in global EV sales with a lot of help from the government in the form of subsidies for lithium batteries. We also examine how China used Tesla to kick-start its own homegrown EV industry - and how it has since outgrown Elon Musk's company in many ways.China has been the world's largest auto producer for almost two decades.... Continue reading...

With high-end specs and a midrange price, the OnePlus Pad is a welcome return to form. | Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge It's been a surprisingly good year for Android tablets, with Samsung's Galaxy Tab S9 series and the Google Pixel Tablet both having launched within the past couple of months. The OnePlus Pad also arrived earlier this year, and though it might not carry the same clout as a Google or Samsung tablet, it's a solid device that's available from OnePlus right now with a free OnePlus Stylo stylus for $429.99 ($50 off).For the money, OnePlus' first tablet packs a bit of punch. The 11.6-inch slate is less expensive than competing devices from Google, Apple, and Samsung, yet it comes with an array of high-end features, including a quad-speaker system and a pixel-dense LCD display that refreshes at up to 144Hz. It also features a 7:5 aspect ratio... Continue reading...

Illustration by Will Joel / The Verge Amazon's Kindle is a useful reading tool, especially if you tend to purchase your books through Amazon. If you have ebooks that you've purchased elsewhere, however - or have picked up off a free service such as Project Gutenberg - you need to be able to put it on your Kindle (or Kindle app).Getting a non-Amazon book onto a Kindle used to be a somewhat awkward process, involving attaching it to an email and sending it to your individual Kindle email address. However, Amazon's Send to Kindle service has improved vastly since then, and it is now a fairly simple process.But first, a note: if you're a long-term Kindle user who hasn't been paying attention to the news, you may be surprised to see ePub listed - and not Mobi. Amazon added... Continue reading...

The Garmin Venu 3S (left five models) and Venu 3 will both retail for $449.99. | Image: Garmin Garmin is launching the Venu 3 and 3S today, and there's good news for nap lovers. The company is debuting a new Sleep Coach feature that includes both personalized coaching and automatic nap detection.Nap tracking is a timely addition. Sleep is increasingly a popular focus among wearables companies. Samsung, for example, has been working hard the last two years to build out its native sleep tracking offerings, and Google also added Fitbit's Sleep Profile feature to the Pixel Watch. So it's been admittedly odd that Garmin devices haven't been able to automatically detect naps. (You'll also be able to manually log naps as well.) This is especially true since sleep - and therefore naps - is a factor when calculating recovery and... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge I thought I had malware on my main Windows 11 machine this weekend. There I was minding my own business in Chrome before tabbing back to a game and wham a pop-up appeared asking me to switch my default search engine to Microsoft Bing in Chrome. Stunningly, Microsoft now thinks it's ok to shove a pop-up in my face above my apps and games just because I dare to use Chrome instead of Microsoft Edge.This isn't a normal notification, either. It didn't appear in the notification center in Windows 11, nor is it connected to the part of Windows 11 that suggests new features to you. It's quite literally a rogue executable file that has somehow appeared in c:\windows\temp\mubstemp and is digitally signed by Microsoft.We are aware of these... Continue reading...

The Fairphone 5 with its repairable guts on show for all to see. | Image: Fairphone The Fairphone 5 is the latest sustainably produced and repairable handset from Dutch smartphone company Fairphone. Like its previous devices, the Fairphone 5 is made with ethically sourced materials by workers who are given a living wage bonus and is designed to be easy to repair with a lengthy software support period. But this year's model is specced-out much more like a modern midrange smartphone, with an OLED display, fast 30W charging, and dual 50-megapixel cameras at the rear.Fairphone is taking preorders for the Fairphone 5 starting today, and the smartphone ships on September 14th in Europe. Prices start at 699 in the eurozone or 619 in the UK. That translates to roughly $758, though Fairphone has no plans for a US release for... Continue reading...

Illustration: The Verge Continuing the storied tradition of Google's Pixel devices being some of the most-leaked hardware ever, the as-yet-unannounced Pixel 8 Pro has popped up on a Google Store page. @Android_Setting on Twitter / X pointed out the image on a page promoting Google's subscriptions and services (Pixel Pass is not among them), showing a man taking a call on a Pixel 8 Pro in Porcelain.Sure, the device looks like the renders and images that have already leaked, including from a supposed internal Google video, but how can we be sure it's that phone in that color? In a win for accessibility, the tipster notes that the image's alt-text description removes all doubt, reading, A person takes a call on a Pixel 8 Pro phone in Porcelain."We'll zoom in... Continue reading...

The Steam Deck's biggest weakness is battery life - and yet somehow, every challenger has failed to raise that bar. The Ayaneo 2 showed us that AMD's Ryzen 6800U wasn't ready to compete; the Asus ROG Ally revealed that AMD's Z1 Extreme couldn't pull ahead if Asus insisted on matching the Steam Deck's 40 watt-hour battery pack.But Ayaneo may have an answer: it's stuffing a 75 watt-hour pack into a larger, heavier handheld called the Ayaneo Kun that - it now claims - can last nearly three and a quarter hours at 15W TDP. That's nearly double the battery and runtime you'd expect from a Steam Deck at that wattage, though it appears it wasn't captured while playing a game, exactly. Image: Ayaneo Ayaneo Kun battery... Continue reading...

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Verizon will offer a new $90 monthly cellphone plan called Unlimited Ultimate, announced in an update to the May blog post that announced its myPlan lineup. It offers 60GB of mobile hotspot data (double what you get with the $80 Unlimited Plus plan), 10GB of unthrottled international data, and includes access to the company's 5G Ultra Wideband network that's a mix of the company's C-band wireless signal and its faster mmWave 5G.T-Mobile similarly just introduced an expensive new "unlimited" data plan to its Go5G line with the $100 per month Go5G Next plan to complement its C-band spectrum. It offers slightly less hotspot data at 50GB but comes with Netflix Basic and Apple TV Plus and the option to upgrade your phone on a yearly... Continue reading...

Illustration by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The US government just helped dismantle a massive network of computers infected with one of the world's most notorious pieces of malware. According to the FBI, a multinational effort led by the US took down Qakbot, a malware that made its way into over 700,000 computers around the globe.Hackers typically target victims with Qakbot by sending them spam emails containing malicious attachments or links. As soon as a victim downloads the attachment or clicks the link, Qakbot infects their computer, which then becomes part of a botnet - or a network of infected computers controlled remotely by hackers. From there, bad actors can install additional malware on their victims' devices, such as ransomware.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple is planning to launch a pair of updated" AirPods with USB-C during its iPhone 15 event in September, according to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.Rumors have been circulating for months about the possibility of Apple introducing AirPods with a USB-C-compatible charging case, but we haven't heard anything this definite until now. However, we still don't know whether the AirPods Pro will get the USB-C charging case, too, and Gurman doesn't specify.In 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would introduce AirPods with a USB-C charging case sometime this year. It's also not clear whether Apple will make any significant changes to the AirPods themselves aside from the new case. Kuo said earlier this year that... Continue reading...

Image: Edie Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images Tesla is in trouble with the federal government. Again.A newly discovered version of Autopilot that allows drivers to operate the advanced driver-assist feature without applying any torque to the steering wheel - a long sought-after feature by Tesla drivers and one used by several other automakers as well - has caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.In a July 26th letter (first reported by Bloomberg), NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series of fines. The company was ordered to respond by August 25th; it's unclear whether Tesla complied.NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series... Continue reading...